Congratulations!
Whether you are getting engaged, looking for wedding bands, or celebrating your anniversary, we can help you find the right ring! While we know that information about the 4 C's (cut, color, clarity and carat weight) will serve as a good starting point to understanding diamond beauty and value. We firmly believe it’s just that, a starting point. After more than 2 decades of buying diamonds for ourselves, and our clients, we would NEVER buy a diamond based on what any report says it is. More often that not, the report does not accurately reflect the beauty of the stone, and frankly, sometimes that are just wrong. We encourage you to take time to come to our store, speak with our experienced staff, and see the difference that great Koser quality makes. You will leave with a beautiful diamond, a report, and knowing that our family confirms it. We can help you find a diamond that speaks to your heart.
How Much Should I Spend on Engagement rings?
When a young couple is contemplating getting engaged there are many questions about costs, how to, when, and more. We thought it might be helpful to share some information about typical scenarios in the US at present. Everyone is different, but sometimes it's nice to know "what most people do," before you decide what is best for you.
The Bridal Association Of America (BAA) says there were be 2.3 million weddings in America in 2009. On average they will spend $30,860. The average groom is 28, and the bride is 26. Usually their engagement lasts 17 months. In 2005 the average spent on diamond engagement rings was $2,750. Increasingly, the young couples (28 percent) are shopping together to make engagement ring choices. Nearly 17% of women picked out their ring on their own. Sometimes the young woman gave suggestions (11 percent) to her boyfriend, and another 13 percent gave indirect hints about what type of ring she may like. Of the young couples surveyed, 54% said their jeweler influenced their choice, 44% were said to have been influenced by their family or friends, 30% by online research, and 25% by television ads.
Many years ago De Beers came out with the guidelines that 2 months of your current salary should be spent on an engagement ring. I do see many follow
The Price of Diamonds
There are many things that contribute to the price of a diamond:
Of course, the better the diamond the more rare, and the more expensive. For more information on the rarity factors, the 4 C's - click here. Here are some things you may not know that contribute to the costs:
Rarity - Takes a million diamonds mined to find a single one-carat. 80% of all diamonds taken out of the ground are industrial grade known as bort. Less than 1% of all diamond crystals are pure enough to be cut into Hearts on Fire: HOF utilizes only natural, distortion free, knot-free, and extremely high purity diamond crystals.
Mining costs - They will remove 250 tons of the earth's crust to find 1 one carat, let alone one nice enough for a Hearts on Fire. They have been mining diamonds 2900 years. For 2800 they have been mined by hand. Some men and women have searched the secret cracks and crevices of the earth without ever finding a single one-carat. They are looking for new mines all the time. In the past 100 years of industrial mining practices, they have removed more diamonds than I the previous 2800 years. It has been said at current mining trends there is only a 40-year supply of diamonds left in the earth.
Cutting - The Hearts on Fire is an ideal cut, AGS Triple Zero which is cut using 100X magnifcation. It takes years of cutting small diamonds before someone can move up to larger stones. Most diamonds are cut to retain weight, and without regard to beauty. A lot of these diamonds are the ones you see at 50% off. They may be SI1 G, but their cut is poor. Only 400 diamond cutters can cut a diamond to the specification of Hearts on Fire. Every Hearts on Fire is cut by hand; cut by a master who has been trained like a surgeon to unleash the incredible firepower of an awesome and rare diamond.
Endurance Value - What else can you wear 24 hours a day, 7 days a week forever? What else has no maintenance? A diamond is time’s only enemy- time can't wear it down. With a little respect you can wear it forever, and pass it on to the next generation and it will look just like it did the day you got it.
Antiquity Value - The plates from the Titanic at the time were a dime apiece, and are now selling for 5,000$ each. You can go to an antique store and pick out an 85 year old chair that is in poor shape, and certainly not comfortable for $1000. The Mona Lisa is 500 years old, and has been valued at millions. Diamonds are billions of years old; there is nothing older, nothing. They are older than the dinosaurs. Yet there is no added cost due to their antiquity.
Investment Value - Not like you think of financial investments, but an investment in feelings and emotions. I can sit at my desk, and look at my grandmother's engagement ring in the box in my desk drawer. My eyes can see the same diamond that my grandmother saw; my skin can touch the same diamond that hers did. Diamonds immortalize a moment- for generations! It's an investment in hope, in love, in the future. Eighty % of all diamonds are bought to give to people, and people never forget the moment that they received a diamond. That's what diamonds do.
Why Buy At Koser Jewelers